Rested Kariya, Retooled Roster a Good Start

The team captain is fit, relaxed and ready to play after an easy-going summer that included a Hawaiian vacation. The goaltender bleached his hair. There are 14 new names on the roster, including a German who actually is a Russian. Competition is expected to be fierce for almost every job.

These can’t possibly be the Mighty Ducks, can they?

Funny what a summer of discontent can do for a franchise.

Pierre Gauthier, team president and general manager, certainly didn’t take last season’s last-place finish in the Pacific Division lightly. He spent the summer retooling and revamping a squad he and many others believed underachieved in finishing ninth in the Western Conference and out of a playoff spot.

And Gauthier’s work isn’t finished. He still must re-sign standout defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky. Negotiations seem to have bogged down in recent days.

Otherwise, all is well with the Ducks, who open their eighth NHL training camp today at their Anaheim practice facility. Practice is open to the public, although it definitely will take a scorecard to get to know all the new players in camp.

Even a few of the returning players seem, well, different.

“I’m healthy,” captain Paul Kariya said Friday. “It’s been years since I’ve come to camp completely healthy.”

Because Kariya took a vacation for the first time since the Ducks drafted him in 1993, it helped heal leg injuries that limited his production to 86 points, down from 101 in 1998-99. But so did easing back on an intense off-season training routine Kariya blamed for at least two previous leg injuries.

“When I was antsy to go to the gym and didn’t feel that well I said to myself, ‘I’m not going through another year like last year,’ and I stayed home,” Kariya said. “I’m not stupid. I’m not going to make the same mistakes, well, I was going to say twice, but it was probably more like three or four times.”

Humor? A strange concept in Duckdom.

Intentionally or not, goalie Guy Hebert--the last original Duck--had teammates in stitches with a new hair color. “He looks like Billy Idol,” cracked right wing Teemu Selanne, referring to the peroxide pop singer of the 1980s.

But seriously, folks, Hebert hopes to rebound from a lackluster 28-31-9 record and 2.51 goals-against average that prompted Gauthier to trade for youngster Jean-Sebastien Giguere during the summer.

Gauthier also improved the Ducks’ depth up front and on defense, acquiring veteran Russian center/left wing German Titov, right wings Dan Bylsma and Jim Cummins and defensemen Chris O’Sullivan and Patrick Traverse. Gauthier also expects to take a long look at Slovakian defenseman Peter Podhradsky and Swedish right wing Jonas Ronnqvist, two top draft picks.

Whether the new depth translates into more victories remains to be seen. Gauthier is looking forward to finding out if his busy summer pays off in the standings.

“There’s been a big turnover,” he said. “It brings a new sense of optimism.”

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Training Camp

* Runs: Today through Oct. 5.

* First exhibition: at San Jose, Sept. 16.

* Season opener: vs. Minnesota, Arrowhead Pond, Oct. 6

* Last season: 34-36-12-3, 83 points (5th in Pacific Division, 9th in Western Conference).